Goju-ryu kata performed by Chojun Miyagi’s students.

I wrote a brief overview of the different branches of Goju-ryu in one of my earlier posts. As I mentioned, the major schools of Okinawan Goju-ryu that were founded by Chojun Miyagi’s direct students are the Meibukan (Meitoku Yagi), the Jundokan (Eiichi Miyazato), and the Shorei-kan (Seikichi Toguchi).

Meitoku Yagi (1912-2003)

Meibukan

Eiichi Miyazato (1922-1999)

Jundokan

Seikichi Toguchi (1917-1998)

Shorei-kan

These schools differ in various ways, such as the order in which kata are learned and in some details of the techniques and stances in them. This highlights the dynamic nature of even traditional karate, as these were all students of the founder of the style and yet they did not perform their kata in an identical way.

Although all three masters have since passed away, we are fortunate to have examples of them performing several kata. I have put together some examples from what is available on YouTube:

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[…] within traditional Okinawan schools of Goju-ryu, with direct links to Chojun Miyagi through his personal students, I have seen significant differences in the way even the basic kata are taught. As such, there […]